We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Saturday, August 31. 2013

Weekends are a real wasteland around here, especially in the summer, and double-especially the holidays, so I hate to burn up my valuable little horde of links. Instead, I'll list a few link sites. Then you may wallow and bask in glorious linkdom to your heart's content.

On a right-wing site, the first two to mention would probably be Drudge and Instapundit. Both are somewhat eclectic, in that right under the article demanding we immediately nuke Syria is a link to how hot Madonna looks in her new grillz.

Next up might be Real Clear Politics, and what's to note is that when it comes to sections like their 'Tech' and 'History', they're actually a fairly 'deep' site, with a specific search usually pulling up lots of goodies.

It's going to take me the rest of the day to get that 'grillz' picture out of my head.

And Ginny's right, that 'Text To Dog' site is hilarious. I particularly liked the one when he accidentally texted his mom. Great stuff.

Next up, the 'Mysteries' site. I just read a few of the posts and it looks terrific. The "Which Plants Can Poison Cats and Dogs?" was pretty sobering. I had a dog once who was only three when he suddenly went into convulsions and died, and we always wondered if it was something in the back yard that he'd eaten.

A Czech company has invented an electric flying bicycle here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ovsgui4YWs

Perhaps it is for the person that has everything?

This video is a little dull but may come in handy after the country collapses. Attach the alternator from your car to your bicycle and generate enough electricity to power your 220 watt food processor.

I'll say this about the flying bike -- it's a piss of a lot closer to the 'flying car of the future' than anything ELSE out there is.

And, again, it's all about battery weight. If someone ever actually makes a quantum breakthrough on the subject, a whole shitload of things are going to become viable.

As for the generator bike, while I applaud the effort, there are two things to note:

1. Car alternators are extremely inefficient compared to dedicated motors like they use in windmills. I did a post on it here.

2. 220 watts is almost nothin', so the amount of energy expended on the bike, in ergs, is probably ten times what the food processor used.

So, nix to the second one, but the first one is definitely a winner. Need one more for the vid splash.

I'm also putting together a 'Behind the scenes at Maggie's' post, with vids of various silly/crazy/odd/bizarre circumstances involving people and farm animals. The guy getting a back massage by three baby goats serves as a good example. Any contributions are welcome.

This one is a hoot. The mobile bar. Patrons sit at the bar and pedal and propel the device down the street. Obviously designed by someone with too much time on their hands.

Then there is this:

Waterbike Hydrofoil Bicycle. Skim across the water like a bug. Very cool. Wikipedia says, "A human-powered hydrofoil is a small hydrofoil watercraft propelled entirely by the muscle power of its operator(s).[1] Human-powered hydrofoils may be driven by pedals, as in a hydrocycle, by paddles, as in a Flyak, or by bouncing, to use flapping wing propulsion. Hydrofoils are the fastest water-based vehicles propelled solely by human power. They can reach speeds of up to 34 km/h (21 mph; 18 kn),[1][2][3] easily exceeding the world records set by competitive rowing which stand at about 20 km/h (12 mph; 11 kn). This speed advantage is achieved since hydrofoils lack a submerged body to provide buoyancy, greatly reducing the drag force.[1]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-powered_hydrofoil

See it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLboyOqi6R8

I will keep an eye out for the animals Doc, but knowing Maggie's love of porn and your love of horses I send the following link:

Did you see the movie 'Babe'? Damn, that second one was a real-life 'Babe' scenario. The first one was also great. Actually, this means I've got two future projects, one of Maggie's and another on 'smart pigs'. For the Maggie's one, it needs to be some kind of bizarre interaction between a farm animal and a person, where I can lead into it with something like, "Here's Barrie out back sloppin the hogs", then show a vid of some farmer getting tripped up in the sty and falling on his ass into the muck. Something like that. Neither of these fit that mold, but with maybe a third vid, they'd make a great 'Real Life Babe' piece.

The Asiana piece is up, and thanks again for that vid. It certainly evoked an interesting memory.

(cough!) You haven't seen 'Babe'?? Jeez, to this day I'm not sure if anyone's matched what they did with the animals speaking. On top of that, the sequel, 'Babe: Pig in the City' was actually better in ways -- and how many sequels can you say that about? Myself, I have never, ever, thought chimps in movies or on TV were funny. The chimps in the sequel are absolutely hysterical. Both are a must-see on a couple of different levels.

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